Komen Foundation stops, restarts funding to Planned Parenthood

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The Susan G. Komen Foundation drew reaction this week when on Wednesday, Feb. 1, it said it would cut grants to Planned Parenthood used to fund breast-cancer prevention program.

Though Komen’s national grant totaled $680,000 last year, Tanya Atkinson says Wisconsin's Planned Parenthood has operated without the Komen funding for several years. Atkinson says pro-life groups have made Komen a target because of its relationship with Planned Parenthood; she said Komen "succumbed to the political pressure,” which Komen officials denied.

They said they prohibit grants to groups that are under investigation, and Planned Parenthood was the subject of an inquiry by a GOP congressman. Diana Drews of Wisconsin's Komen affiliate says she hopes the issue will not hurt fundraising in the state for breast cancer programs and research.

The group raised over a million-dollars in its annual "Race for the Cure" in Milwaukee last year. This year's event is set for September 23rd.

Nationally, Komen said its donations went up the past couple days, despite heavy negative criticisms on its Facebook page. Wisconsin Planned Parenthood said it also received dozens of comments about the matter.

On Friday, Feb. 3, Komen announced it would not discontinue the grants and would be changing its grant criteria so it would not apply to such investigations.

A statement from the group apologized for, "recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women's lives."

Tags: wisconsin, health, business